Police News

All for a Pack of Cigarettes

A woman who reported being robbed in downtown Mahopac was herself arrested when police determined she fabricated the story in order to buy a pack of cigarettes.

The bizarre incident was reported last Thursday when Carmel cops responded to Peter Stewart’s Jewelers on Route 6 in Mahopac at 2:15pm. for a reported strong armed robbery.

Chief Michael Johnson said Officers Douglas Romeo and Justin Fisher obtained statements indicating the woman, Julianne Sepe, 25, of Mahopac, entered the store and advised store employees that she had been robbed at knifepoint by a black man in the parking lot of the Mahopac Sunoco Service Station on Route 6 at Route 6N: “The officers searched the area but found no one matching the description of the alleged culprit.”

Chief Johnson said Sepe was transported to Carmel Police headquarters to obtain additional information for a hot line police message to be broadcast on regional police radio frequencies: “During the interview, the victim’s story changed several times, and after further questioning, Miss Sepe admitted that she used the ploy in order to have store personnel feel sorry for her and give her money in order to purchase a pack of cigarettes.”

Sepe was arrested for falsely reporting an incident and for making a false statement. She was arraigned by Judge Joseph Spofford and was released without bail pending a hearing next week in Carmel Town Court.

District Attorney Adam Levy said the charges were Class A misdemeanors carrying maximum oneyear jail terms at the Putnam Correctional Facility if found guilty.

Upswing in Larcenies

Police in Yorktown have advised residents to lock their vehicles at night and merchants to be on the lookout following a number of larceny arrests involving residents of Putnam County.

Seven arrests have taken place in recent days.

Cops charged Andrew McCann, 21, of Brewster, after a woman contacted authorities to report a GPS and cell phone taken from a vehicle parked in a private driveway.

Lt. Richard Malan said during the course of the investigation evidence was collected at the scene and a witness came forward who recorded the license plate of a suspicious car seen in the area that evening—evidence that led police to the Brewster suspect.

McCann was contacted and he voluntarily appeared at police headquarters where he was charged. McCann was released without bail pending a Feb. 11 hearing in Yorktown Court.

Police arrested Timothy Mastro, 19, of Mahopac, on charges of larceny after he reportedly entered an unlocked car parked overnight in Shrub Oak and took assorted merchandise. A Good Samaritan who noticed a suspicious-looking car was credited with helping police crack the case when he, too, jotted down a license plate number. Mastro was released without bail.

Five larcenies were also reported at the Jefferson Valley Mall. Rosa Suscal, 37, of Mahopac, was charged after she allegedly shoplifted $46 worth of jewelry from Sears.

Barbara Tuchman, 35, of Putnam Valley, was arrested for reportedly taking $77 worth of assorted merchandise from Macy’s without paying for the items, and Harry Rubell, 62, of Continental Village, was arrested after allegedly walking out of Sears without paying for a power tool valued at $129.

Police also arrested a 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl from Lake Peekskill after they allegedly walked from Sears without paying for $65 worth of merchandise. The pair was held by store security for police who processed the duo at police headquarters and released them to the custody of their parents pending hearings next month. The others were released without bail pending February court appearances in Yorktown.

Assaulting an Officer

A resident of Southeast is in big trouble with the law in Connecticut for allegedly assaulting a Danbury police officer.

Tristan McNerney, 22, was charged with felony assault as well as the reckless use of a highway by a pedestrian, interfering with the duties of a police officer, and breach of peace following last week’s incident on Main Street.

Police said an officer observed a man attempting to open the door of a moving vehicle being driven by another individual on the corner of Main and North Streets at 3:30pm.

A police spokesman said the “auto sped up and the man tumbled onto the road and was nearly struck by a passing car.”

The officer stopped to assist the stricken man, but he ran off before he was apprehended a block away at a gas station where police detected a strong odor of alcohol emanating from McNerney.

The Putnam man was placed in a patrol car and was taken to Danbury Police headquarters where it is alleged he became combative and kicked an officer. Both the suspect and the officer were taken to Danbury Hospital for treatment of injuries—McNerneys’s resulting when he fell from the car and landed on his head.

Following treatment in the emergency department, McNerney was arraigned on the charges and was remanded to jail on $5,000 bail pending future court action.

Assault of a police officer is a felony in Connecticut that carries a maximum seven-year state prison term if found guilty.

Suspended Licenses

Aggravated unlicensed operation arrests are soaring in Putnam County. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, Kent Police, and Carmel Police have been busy in recent days with the arrests of motorists on the vehicle and traffic law infraction.

Deputy Peter Viglio stopped a car on Oscawana Lake Road in Putnam Valley last week for committing a traffic violation. Undersheriff Peter Convery said after checking with the New York State DMV database, the deputy determined the driver, Ada DiCecco, 45, of Putnam Valley, was operating her car with a suspended license. DiCecco was arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation.

Deputy Randel Hill stopped a car on Route 403 in Garrison for committing a traffic violation. Once again a DMV check revealed the driver, Erik Anderson, 31, of Honesdale, Pa., was driving with a suspended license. He was also arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation.

Deputy Michael Sutherland was patrolling along Oscawana Lake Road in Putnam Valley when he stopped a car after observing its expired inspection sticker. The driver, Ana Lopes, 31, of Putnam Valley, was also found to be driving with a suspended license. She was arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation.

The following day Deputy Sutherland stopped a car on Route 311 in Patterson. The driver, Tricia Pfister, 34, of Pawling, was charged for aggravated unlicensed operation when it was determined her license had been previously suspended.

Deputy Shaun Menton got into the arrest tally when he stopped a car on Route 52 in downtown Carmel for committing a traffic violation. The undersheriff said a computer check determined that Robert Cegielski, 46, of Yorktown, was operating his car with a suspended license. The Westchester man was also arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation.

Kent Police arrested Jon Paul Freire, 25, of Kent Cliffs after Officer Ray Beauchesne stopped a car on Route 311 in Lake Carmel at 12:30am for an equipment violation. A computer check revealed the man’s license had been suspended for a previous DWI conviction.

Officer Joseph Fleischman arrested Rodney Martin, 49, of Lake Carmel, for not only aggravated unlicensed operation but for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle after an employee of Trans Express, described by Lt. Alex DiVernieri as a transportation service operating in Lake Carmel, discovered one of its vehicles missing: “The man reported the passenger van stolen but a short time later Martin pulled into the parking lot behind the wheel. He was arrested on the unauthorized use charge when a computer check determined his license had been suspended.”

Carmel Police arrested Heather Devenney, 32, of Wappingers Falls, for aggravated unlicensed operation after her car was stopped by Officer Brian Shay on Weber Hill Road in Mahopac for speeding.

A DMV check determined the woman’s license had been previously suspended. The Dutchess resident was arrested for not only aggravated unlicensed operation but for driving without a license as well as for speeding.

Officer Stephen Kunze arrested Luke Giumarro, 19, of Mahopac, for aggravated unlicensed operation after stopping what Police Chief Michael Johnson described as a suspicious car traveling in and out of several neighborhoods along Croton Falls Road in Mahopac at 2am.

All of those arrested were released without bail pending future court hearings in the jurisdictions where they were charged.

The Week in DWIs

More drunken driving arrests have been reported throughout the region as police continue their around-the-clock crackdown.

Kent Police charged Mark Stevenson, 25, of Kent Cliffs, with not only DWI but also with aggravated DWI, since his blood alcohol level measured at .18 percent, or more than twice the legal limit for intoxication. Lt. Alex DiVernieri said Stevenson was arrested after Officer Kevin Radovich observed a vehicle crossing a double yellow line on Route 52 in Lake Carmel at 2:30am last week.

Stevenson was released to the custody of a family member pending future court action.

Yorktown Police made a pair of DWI arrests—both involving Putnam motorists. Richard Perricone, 46, of Patterson, was involved n a two-car property dama crash on Route 118 and Underhill Avenue last Wednesday at 3:30am. Lt. Richard Malan said the investigating officer smelled alcohol on the Perricone’s breath and, after he faced several field sobriety tests, the motorist was arrested for DWI. Additional charges of driving with a blood alcohol level of more than .08 percent and failing to stop at a red traffic signal were also lodged. Perricone was released to the custody of a family friend pending future court action.

Police also arrested Mark Vinci, 20, of Mahopac, for both DWI as well as driving while his ability was impaired by drugs while investigating a second two-car crash at the same location the following morning. This time personal injury was involved when Lt. Malan said Vinci passed through a steady red traffic light and broadsided an oncoming vehicle.

The injured man who Malan said was a passenger in the second car was taken by ambulance to the Westchester Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Vinci was arraigned on the charges and was released to the custody of a family member pending a Feb. 16 hearing in Yorktown.

Beer Run Ends in Tragedy

A joint investigation between the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and law enforcement in Connecticut has determined a 19-year-old Ridgefield man killed in a single car crash near the New York-Connecticut state line last November occurred while the youth was making a “beer run” from a Southeast service station.

As a result of the inquiry, a clerk at the service station on Route 22 was arrested for selling a 30-pack of beer to a person under the age of 21. Also arrested were a Ridgefield woman and her daughter, for permitting a minor to possess alcohol.

Sheriff’s Department personnel arrested the unidentified clerk last week as well as notifying the ABC Board in Albany, which has the authority to sanction the service station by fining its owner or suspending the business’s liquor license.

Police in Connecticut arrested Barbara Amrod, 52, and her daughter, Kimberly, last weekend.

Ridgefield Police Dept. Captain Clifford Scharf said the victim, Brandon von Koschembahr, a sophomore at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, lost control of his speeding SUV at 10:30pm on North Salem Road less than a half mile from the state line and slammed into a tree. The captain said the youth’s blood alcohol level exceeded the .08 percent legal limit for driving while intoxicated.

Investigators determined the victim had been at a party at the Amrod home, where adults and underage guests were being served alcohol. The youth reportedly left the party and was returning from the “beer run” when the crash took place.

Scharf noted that speed and driver error caused the fatal crash but “alcohol was a contributing factor.”

The mother and daughter were both arrested last weekend on charges of reckless endangerment and were released pending future court action.

Grand Larceny for

Credit Card Thief

A Patterson woman has been arrested for grand larceny—a crime that could send her to state prison for the next four years.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department arrested Susan Basora, 54, last Friday on a total of eight charges stemming from the theft and use of a credit card.

Sheriff Donald Smith said two weeks ago his office received a complaint from a Carmel woman who reported her Visa card had been stolen from a handbag that had been left in her car: “The victim advised that $400 worth of unauthorized purchases were made in Patterson and Southeast with the stolen document.”

The complaint was referred to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and with the assistance of Senior Putnam Probation Officer John Mulreany a suspect was developed.

Following her arrest last week, Basora was arraigned by Carmel Justice Thomas Jacobellis and was remanded to the Putnam Correctional Facility in lieu of $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 secured bond.

District Attorney Adam Levy said the grand larceny charge was a Class E felony carrying a maximum period of incarceration of up to four years in a state penitentiary if found guilty.